


When I Hear Your Voice

by Justanotherfangirl



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Gen, Injury, i don't know how to tag please send help, i love taako and lup okay, i wrote this instead of studying for ap calculus, listen this idea just popped into my head and i just had to write it, nothing graphic is described
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-29 19:53:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10860933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justanotherfangirl/pseuds/Justanotherfangirl
Summary: Taako hears a voice...An alternate version of Crystal Kingdom chapter six (aka Merle gets chopped). Instead of Merle thinking he hears Pan, Taako is tricked into hearing Lup's voice, though he still can't remember who she is.





	When I Hear Your Voice

**Author's Note:**

> eyyyyyy second fic y'all. I appreciate any feedback! Also, this is unedited so if you see any glaring errors just know I'll probably fix them tomorrow. (Also so sorry for the shitty line at the end i'm unoriginal)

Carey and Killian were banging on the other side of the door as Magnus and Merle both whacked at it. They were making little progress. Taako had stopped casting spells and was trying to think of a way to more efficiently get the door open when he heard someone call his name.

“Taako.”

The voice was familiar. Taako was sure he had heard it before. And not only that, he felt that, somehow, this voice was… important to him. Like he not only knew the person it belonged to, but cared about them, even loved them. He tried to remember…. he had to remember… but his mind kept filling up with static when he tried to picture the person that the voice belonged to.

Regardless, Taako wanted to listen to them.

He trusted that voice.

“Taako, listen to me. Grab the crystal.”

Taako hesitated. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew there was no reason he should listen to this disembodied voice, and every reason why he shouldn’t, but… it was her. As soon as Taako had that thought he knew the owner of the voice was a she. He had a firm conviction that listening to her would not only be safe, but would be beneficial to him and his friends. He felt, suddenly, but with absolute certainty, that he would trust her with his life.

But why couldn’t he remember who she was?

“You can save your friends, you can save this whole planet,” she continued, in a soft, soothing voice. “And you can save me, Taako.”

He desperately wanted to save her.

“It’s me, Taako. It’s Lup. You can bring me back.”

Lup. Taako’s mind whirled. Why did that name fill him with such warmth, such affection? He cared so deeply for Lup, whoever she was. He would do anything for her. He would do anything to bring her back.

He stretched his arm out and grabbed the crystal.

A man with a British accent spoke. “Well, this is going to be easier than I thought!”

Taako heard a sound like a lightbulb shattering, and shards of pink crystal poked out from his hand. And the crystal began to spread.

“Um, guys?” he said, turning towards the others and trying to hide the tremor in his voice, “We have a bit of a problem.”

No-3113, turning towards him, yelled in terror. “Guys, he’s crystallizin’!”

Magnus and Merle rushed over, both shouting as Taako dropped to his knees from the pain. The crystal had encompassed his entire hand and was quickly spreading up his arm.

“Lemme chop it off! Lemme chop it off!” Magnus was yelling, waving Railsplitter. Merle was trying to find a healing spell that could reverse the effects of the crystal to no avail, and No-3113 was frantically pacing back and forth, unable to do anything to help.

Taako didn’t see any other option. “Just-just do it!” he screamed as he held out his arm towards Magnus. The crystal was all the way up to his elbow now.

Thunk.

He didn’t feel the cut as Magnus expertly sliced through him, but he did hear the sound of the crystal that used to be his arm clattering to the floor. He stared at it for a split second. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled to the ground. The last thing he heard was Killian and Carey shouting, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Taako didn’t usually have dreams, but for the few minutes he was unconscious he had some of the most vivid dreams he could recall having. He was looking in mirror, checking his makeup before leaving his room as he did every morning. But then his features shifted slightly. His face grew more and more distorted until he realized he was completely engulfed in static. Then he was inside the mirror and his fuzzy reflection was walking away from him, waving as its back vanished into the white distance. He reached forward, begging Lup to stay. Lup… where did she go? Who was she? Before he awoke, he saw a flash of a smile, a twitch of a long blonde braid, and that same voice softly whispering his name.

Upon awaking, Taako immediately became aware of a dull pain emanating from his right arm. Well, where his right arm used to be. It was bandaged at the elbow, which now marked the end of his arm. The shock of his arm being just… gone… would have caused him to fall to the floor again had he not been laying on what seemed to be an operating table. Looking up, he saw the worried faces of Magnus, Merle, Killian, Carey, and No-3113 (well, No-3113’s expression never really changed, Taako just assumed she was concerned). He turned his head slightly and saw Lucas rummaging through a drawer with a furrowed brow.

“Taako!” Magnus shouted, scooping Taako up in a hug. The whole group seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before quickly switching gears.

“Now, tell us what the FUCK you were thinking,” said Merle, looking like he was barely holding himself back from punching Taako in the jaw.

Taako’s mind was fuzzy from the pain and whatever drugs Lucas must have pumped into him. All he could remember was her name.

“I heard a voice… It was Lup.”

Everyone looked confusedly at each other. “The fuck is Lup?” Carey asked, but everyone else shook their heads, just as perplexed as she was.

Lucas came over with a syringe and injected Taako with some sort of liquid that made his head clearer and the pain all but disappear. He then returned to sifting through all the medical equipment, robot parts, and electrical wiring that were all mixed together in his many cabinets and drawers. He really needed to organize his shit, Taako thought.

“I’m-I’m really sorry this happened,” Lucas said, “I-I didn’t mean-“ He cut himself off. “Never mind. But I may have something that can help you out, if I can just…”

He pulled out a mechanical arm. It was surprisingly realistic; it was obviously not flesh, but if Taako hadn’t been looking very hard it might have passed for a real limb. Lucas fiddled a little with it, then beckoned to Taako. He fixed it on his new stump.

“This is a little something I’ve been working on, at the Director’s behest,” he said, growing more excited the more he spoke. “It feeds off the wearer’s own magic supply to function, but the result is that it works almost exactly like your real arm used to! I just need to calibrate it a little bit,” he muttered, and spent a few minutes adjusting the length, pressing a few buttons, and doing other tech work that Taako couldn’t see. When he was done, he sat back, seemingly satisfied.

“It should work now, try it out!”

Sure enough, the arm worked fine. It was a little more cumbersome than his flesh arm, as was to be expected, but soon enough Taako could barely tell the difference. Lucas looked absolutely thrilled, and Taako almost suspected that this had been his plan all along.

After a few minutes, Killian cleared her throat. “Alright, well, if you’re good to go, Taako, we should really get that stone.”

Taako paused for a second. He couldn’t get Lup out of his head. She was so important to him, how could he have forgotten her? He was desperate to know more, but resolved to wait until after they had collected this relic to think any more about her. But he did promise this to himself: that he would remember her, and then he would save her, no matter what it took.

“Let’s abracafuck this bitch!” he shouted, pushing Lup, whoever she was, to the back of his mind as he charged from the med bay, his friends at his side. And he tried his hardest to ignore the sinking feeling that he was missing something.


End file.
